Mr. Powell is John Powell's father. John works for him "on the farm" to earn the money with which he buys "a .41 caliber snub-nosed revolver" from him (6).
John Powell's wife is not named, but she is mentioned as having "stitched a neat strong pocket" inside his overalls for the pistol he chooses to carry (7).
John Powell is "the head hostler" at the Priest livery stable (4). A hostler is someone who looks after horses. On his twenty-first birthday, as "ineffaceable proof that he was . . . a man" (6), he bought a pistol that he carries to work in his overalls. Having the gun in the stable is against the rules, but he and Maury Priest handle this "moral problem" (6) by ignoring the its existence, "as mutual gentlemen must and should" (8). As part of the history of this gun the narrative mentions "his wife" and "his father" (6).
The road to the Compson farm consists of "levels" and "hills," but while the story's text makes it clear that the farm itself is "four miles away" from their home, it does not say in which direction one would travel to get there (343). (See the description of the Compson Farm for more discussion of our decision to locate it on the road north from Jefferson.)
The road to the Compson farm consists of "levels" and "hills," but while the story's text makes it clear that the farm itself is "four miles away" from their home, it does not say in which direction one would travel to get there (343). (See the description of the Compson Farm for more discussion of our decision to locate it on the road north from Jefferson.)
Before the Civil War the Compson place was a one-square mile prosperous slave plantation. By the 20th century, as it is described in The Sound and the Fury, most of the land has been sold and the house itself is falling into decay. It is not described at all in this story, which takes place sometime between those two periods. Quentin simply refers to it as "home," perhaps merely to distinguish it from "the farm" four miles away that also belongs to the Compsons (343).
